Continued Perfection from Ryan Partridge. Photo by Anne Cypress.
(Irwindale) – An estimated crowd 1,000 fans made the first of two visits of the SRL Southwest Tour feel right at home.
Ryan Partridge continued his streak in the King Taco Super Trucks, while Dylan Lupton found the “Winner’s Circle” for the first time in 2010. Brent Scheidemantle extended his points lead in the Echo Equipment Rental Legends series.
LANGERS S2 – 25 LAPS
The Langers S2 race cars are supposed to be able to run close to each other, but Dylan Lupton led all the way for his first victory in the series.
Lupton took the lead right at the green-flag drop and drove away to a 2.47 second win.
The win allowed Lupton to make up two-points on series leader Roman Lagudi who now leads by two points.
Joe Anderson was sitting on the pole and had trouble on the green-flag start and fell back to fourth in the first turn. It allowed Lupton to get the jump on the rest of the field and pull clear. He would finish in third after he passed Dave Busby.
Scheidemantle leads Legends points race. Photo by Anne Cypress.
ECHO EQUIPMENT LEGENDS – 50 LAPS
The last thing Brent Scheidemantle wanted to see was a caution with a large lead. With 12 laps to go, Nicholas Lundstrom spun in turn one and brought out the yellow-flag.
Scheidemantle got the jump on the green-flag re-start and held on to win his third race of the season in the Echo Equipment Legends series.
The most impressive finish of the night wasn’t Scheidemantle’s win, but the second place finish of Darren Amidon who had to start at the pack of the field after making changes to his car prior to the start.
Amidon weaved his way through the field and nearly caught the winner on the final lap and had to settle for second. It also snapped his four-race winning streak.
Chad Schug who is battling Scheidemantle for the track championship was the biggest loser as he was poised for a second place finish, only to get passed by Amidon on the final two laps. It cost him four points in the race.
Both Scheidemantle and Schug had hoped to have been running in Charlotte this weekend in the Legends Million, but had no funding to compete there.
KING TACO SUPER TRUCKS – 40 LAPS
It seems as though no matter what is thrown at Ryan Partridge he makes it look simple. Although he was flawless Saturday Night in winning the King Taco Super Trucks for the eighth straight time. It was races six and seven that make you realize the talent he has.
In his sixth race the transmission slipped and broke. His seventh race saw a gear box leak and yet he still found his way to the Winner’s Circle.
Partridge was never threatened during his dominant 1.92 second victory over veteran Pat Mintey Jr. Twice in the final 20 laps, Partridge had to withstand a re-start challenge for Mintey only to pull away after a couple of laps.
Mintey was definitely the second best truck of the night and easily held on for second place.
The night was a disaster for Todd Cameron and Matt Kimball who were respectively second and third in the points chase. Cameron and Kimball both experienced trouble early and finished 17th and 18th.
Both lost 34 and 36 points distance on Partridge who now has 60 point lead on Cameron and Kimball with six races remaining.
SPEARS MANUFACTURING 100 – 100 LAPS
Gomez clearly had the best car the entire evening. Photo by Anne Cypress.
It looked as though Jonathon Gomez was going to be on the losing end of a dominating performance in the Spears Manufacturing 100.
With two laps to go, Derek Thorn was able to catch Gomez on the back stretch of the 98th lap and then pass him in between turns three and four.
Thorn and Gomez then drag-raced for an entire lap with Gomez coming up the winner by a miniscule 0.012 seconds to win the SRL Southwest Tour Series event at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale.
It would have been an incredible turn of events for Gomez who led 88 of the final 89 laps.
“I hated those yellows,” said Gomez. “The first five laps after a re-start were the worst for us. I knew as long as we went a long time green the car was good.”
With five laps remaining and Gomez cruising on the lead, Greg Voigt and Ryan Foster got tangled up in turn one that led to the final caution of the night that led to the dash for the finish.
For Thorn, it was an incredible comeback as he spun on the 72nd lap and had to start back in 20th position. In 28 laps, Thorn came through the field and ended up leaving the speedway with the SRL points lead.
Voigt rallied to finish third. Local driver and Auto Club Late Model Driver Nick Joanides rallied for a seventh place finish.
Additional photos can be found at cypresstreephotos.printroom.com
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